Why Paul Ryan Was Wall Street's Perfect Candidate From the Start

Getty Wall Street fell in love early and often with Vice Presidential candidate Paul Ryan.

As a speechwriter for Jack Kemp's Empower America, Ryan quickly became fiscal conservatives' object of affection. Once Ryan was assigned to the banking committee during his first term and the Ways and Means Committee in his second, the cash started flowing in and "it was a near perfect combination that made Ryan gain Wall Street's favor," according to Politico's Robin Bravender.

Contributions from Bank One Corp. and Northwestern Mutual were a large part of the $60,000 political action committees and bank employees donated to Ryan's first reelection campaign in 2000.

"He had a deep thirst for the nuances of the tax code, and then he got on Ways and Means Committee and those were the years that Republicans were in charge and people gravitated toward bright members of Congress, and Paul happened to be one of those," said Richard Hunt, CEO of the Consumer Bankers Association.

Nowadays, the top donor to Ryan's leadership PAC is Elliot Management, a hedge fund run by billionaire Paul Singer. The fund's employees have contributed $40,000 for the PAC. Donors also include Citadel Investment Group, JPMorgan, and Credit Suisse.